AFTER THE Indian Express highlighted the travelling woes of techies and other commuters in the IT hub of Hinjewadi through a series of articles, PMRDA commissioner Yogesh Mhase in an interview to Manoj More said that the traffic congestion and the daily headache of commuters will reduce drastically by January.
Lakhs of techies, commuters, ordinary people and students wait for long hours daily at Hinjewadi due to traffic congestion. Will this issue be resolved soon?
With the number of measures and initiatives that we have taken in the past two months, I can emphatically state that the traffic congestion in Hinjewadi area will reduce drastically latest by January this year. And no, I am not saying this for the sake of saying. I mean what I say. We are doing everything possible to ease traffic congestion and reduce the travel time of commuters entering Hinjewadi and exiting the area during evening hours.
In terms of percentage, how much will the daily traffic get reduced in the IT hub?
Actually, the traffic congestion has already reduced. There is some relief… The problem was created because of potholes that had surfaced and the roads that became narrow due to encroachments. Now the roads have become wide as we have removed encroachments and carried out some repair work. Once the rain completely stops and there is bright sunshine, you will certainly see the difference in the state of the road. We hope to complete all the road work by December and the traffic congestion is expected to reduce by 70 per cent by January. And once Metro service from Shivajinagar to Hinjewadi takes off and several office-goers stop using their personal vehicles, the traffic congestion will reduce further by 80-90 per cent. We are expecting the Metro service to get started by March.
But the new roads are still not in place, and the existing road widening work is still under progress?
Firstly, we are completely making five new roads. These are the ones which head from the highway to Hinjewadi. We have sent the proposal for acquisition of land for these roads to the district collectorate. For the fifth road, we will soon be sending the proposal. We have held two meetings with farmers for acquiring their land. Soon we will be holding a third meeting. Secondly, for the existing 19-km road which partly falls in PMRDA, MIDC and PWD areas, nearly seven km of the stretch is already in PMRDA area. The land acquisition process for this 19-km road is also under progress. Farmers have already agreed to part with their land. We will be sending a proposal for acquiring their land to the collectorate. As soon as rain stops, we will start the work for widening the road. As for the five new roads, the land acquisition process will take two months to complete. Our aim is to start the work on these five roads and the widening of 19-km road by Diwali. If the farmers give us permission, we will start the work before the land acquisition process starts.
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Another key issue is that today there is only one entry and exit point to Hinjewadi leading to daily traffic nightmare. Will there be more entry and exit points?
As I said, we are setting up five new roads. All these roads will provide entry and exit route to the motorists. These five roads will provide five entries and exits to the Mumbai–Bangalore highway. In short, there will be six entry and exit points. Even at Marunji and Sangawade, there will be entry and exit points. Besides, there will be three entry and exits to Parandwai, Shirgaon and Ravet.
Is there effective coordination between different government agencies or the problem still continues?
Of course, there is effective coordination between all the government agencies. The single-point authority of Divisional Commissionerate is ensuring the effective coordination. We are working in close coordination and taking all necessary measures to ease the traffic problems of citizens. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar are keeping a close watch on Hinjewadi problems and pushing for resolving them at the earliest. We are getting full support from the government for implementing various measures.
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Has PMRDA removed all encroachments, including those on the nullah ?
Almost all encroachments along the narrow roads have been demolished. As for those on the nullahs, we have received the report from irrigation department but are waiting for another report. After receiving the second report, we will initiate the necessary action. We don’t want any injustice on anyone. We want to take appropriate action in the matter.
